By Oliver Wheeler

The former Spurs director of football believes the Welshman should stay in north London and continue his development insisting "he has all the time in the world to move on"

Former Tottenham director of football, Damien Comolli, insists Gareth Bale should remain at the club to continue his development.

The Frenchman played a big part in the winger's initial transfer to north London from Southampton six years ago, with the winger flourishing this season in particularly, hitting 19 goals in all competitions so far.

Comolli is adamant that, despite rumours circulating about interest from the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona, Bale should stay at Spurs for now.

"He is in an ideal place as long as Tottenham reach the Champions League," the Frenchman told The Daily Telegraph.

"At the moment he is carrying Spurs towards the Champions League, but he has all the time in the world to move on if he wants to at some stage.

"He is having the time of his life at White Hart Lane so why not stay there and continue?”

The former Liverpool and Arsenal employee recalled his reaction to watching Bale first play, revealing that his physical prowess made him almost impossible to match up against, even at such a young age.

Comolli added: “With young players it is very often a combination of things that marks them out, and with Gareth you could see he was just a perfect cocktail.

"The first thing was that his physical attributes were awesome. He had pace, power and great strength even at 17 playing against adults in a ­professional league.

“He had a magical left foot, he could always get out of trouble, he was difficult to close down because he always had an escape route. Even playing at left-back he could cause problems in the final third and create chances.”

The 40-year-old believes that bale is comparable with Cristiano Ronaldo, who he could link up with at Real Madrid, as los Blancos prepare a summer move to snare the 23-year-old.

"When they get the ball, they can beat anyone over five yards, or 50 yards or 80 yards," Comolli explained.

"Their pace and the ability to create something from anywhere on the pitch is very similar. They dominate the game and their opponents in a very similar way.

"I was expecting Gareth to come into his prime in the next year but he is already able to physically dominate a game, and there is a lot of room for improvement.

"He will improve his finishing and he will get stronger. He will be at his best when he is 26 or 27. It is scary how good he can be."